1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for cultivating a crop, such as a tree or plant. In particular, the invention relates to a device for modelling a portion of a tree nursery crop, such as a box tree or an olive tree, received in a pot or in the soil.
2. Description of the Related Art
For pruning a crop, various principles may be distinguished. In the case of the shearing of crops, such as twigs or leaves, the cutting edges of a pair of blades are moved along each other so as to shear through a crop located therebetween. In shearing, one blade forms a counter-blade along which the other blade performs a cutting movement. The counter-blade is usually fixed. In the case of the chopping of crops, a blade moves against a crop at such a high speed, without the use of a counter-blade, that said crop is chopped through. In chopping, the blade which moves relatively quickly does not cooperate with a counter-blade.
A device for cultivating a box tree is known from DE 44 09 126. In order to form a spherical crown on this tree, hedge shears are moved along a circular guide rail. The blades of the shears extend in this case tangentially in relation to the desired spherical crown. However, it is inconvenient to keep the blades of the shears fixed in relation to each other throughout the service life of the hedge shears. The moisture originating from twigs and leaves which have been chopped through and the twigs themselves push the blades of the shears apart. This device comprising hedge shears is therefore prone to wear. In addition, cultivating the box tree using this device is time-consuming, while the appearance of the cultivated crown can differ somewhat from the desired spherical shape.